Martin O'Neill is striving to bring Adam Johnson to Sunderland after his chairman, Ellis Short, agreed to finance a deal for the Manchester City winger.

After Roberto Mancini, City's manager, reluctantly decided to allow the 25-year-old to leave the Etihad Stadium, a £10m price was set which is understood to have been met by five clubs. Johnson, who has recently been the subject of interest from Everton and Newcastle United, is believed to have turned two of those teams down but has not rejected Sunderland.

The biggest worry for O'Neill, whose board will meet Johnson's wage demands, is that André Villas-Boas is also thought to be interested in the England international. The chance of moving to Tottenham Hotspur and playing Europa League football is likely to appeal to the former Middlesbrough creator who is keen to bolster his England career.

Conversely Johnson was born in Sunderland and brought up just down the road in Easington, County Durham, so the prospect of returning to his home area and being a first-team regular could also exert a powerful pull for one of the most successful graduates of Middlesbrough's vaunted academy.

Indeed Johnson, who has struggled to hold down a place in Mancini's side, came close to signing for Sunderland in 2010 when O'Neill's predecessor, Steve Bruce, thought he had secured the player from the Riverside only to lose him to City's late £7m bid.

O'Neill, who continues to pursue the Wolves centre-forward Steven Fletcher but has accepted that the midfielder or left back Kieran Richardson remains determined to leave the Stadium of Light, is desperate to add "pace and trickery" to his team along with a striker and a left-back.

"You get to a stage where you say, 'Fine, I don't mind paying over the odds here, if this person is value for money," said O'Neill last week when he was asked about transfer targets. "That's fine and that's what I'm thinking about."